Regional

Claire Muireann Murphy is a performance storyteller from Galway who has brought her art to audiences all over the world, including last month’s Conference on World Affairs in Boulder, Colorado.This week, however, she has brought the stories of young people at Clare Youth Service to life and collaborated with them for a special performance at Cois na h-Abhna. Having secured a grant from Poetry Ireland’s Writers Scheme to extend their services to teenagers and early school leavers, Clare County Library embarked on a storytelling project involving young people at the Clare Youth Service.Over a series of eight workshops, Ms Murphy imparted the techniques of storytelling and provided examples from her own extensive repertoire. The participants also worked with Jackie Dermody O’Brien, library staff officer, who filmed the workshop sessions; Patricia Fitzgerald, who co-ordinated the project on behalf of Clare County Library and CYS literacy tutor, Fionnuala Tuohy.The film clips are posted to Clare County Library’s website with links to YouTube …

THERE was shock in Shannon this week following the sudden death of former town clerk, Tomás Mac Cormaic.Mr Mac Cormaic was found dead at his home on Tuesday. He was aged 76.A native of Kilkishen, Tomás had worked in Shannon Airport, Clare County Council as well as companies such as LanaKnit and EI while he also spent some time in England. He married his late wife, Eithne in 1965 and they had nine children together.Tomás became Shannon town clerk in 1982 and held the position until the summer of 2009, when he stood down following the local elections, shortly before his 75th birthday.In an interview with The Clare Champion after announcing he was stepping down from his position as town clerk, Tomás said he had enjoyed his time in the role hugely and identified the transfer of responsibility for the town from Shannon Development to Clare County Council as a highlight. “The biggest highlight was the transfer of the town …

EAST Clare County Councillors have expressed dissatisfaction with the recent review of the county’s winter maintenance strategy which omits roads on the county boundary from the normal winter salting service.The area councillors received a briefing on the review of the winter maintenance strategy by senior executive engineer Tom Tiernan at a recent Killaloe Electoral Area meeting. Mr Tiernan explained that the roads for salting across the county were prioritised at three levels. Priority one, are routes that are treated during all weather events and these roads include motorways and national routes. While priority two routes are to be treated as part of the normal winter service but may have interruptions to treatment in certain severe weather events or in circumstances where information suggests the risk is minimum. Meanwhile, priority three routes are not treated as part of the normal service but may receive intermittent treatment during certain severe weather events.  Councillor Pat Burke said he was “disappointed” that the priority …

Substantial funding needs to be secured to help restore Ballyalla Lake as a bathing amenity for Ennis and its surrounding areas, according to local town councillors.Concern about the rapid deterioration in the water quality of Ballalla Lake, which was once “a jewel in the crown” was expressed by councillors at an Ennis Town Council meeting on Wednesday.Leading the calls, Councillor Brian Meaney requested an explanation from Clare County Council why bathing waters in Ballyalla didn’t meet standards.Councillor Meaney called for a more proactive approach to improve water quality to facilitate the lake’s restoration as a bathing amenity for people in the town.He noted that the percentage of total coliforms and faecal coliforms higher than accepted guidelines had increased from 29% to 100% and from 7% to 37% respectively from 2005 to 2010.He was supported by Councillor Johnny Flynn, who recalled the lake was once a major asset for the town and proposed that money should be set aside for the …

THE co-existence of wealth and poverty in South Galway towns like Portumna during the famine years will be examined as part of an interesting new social history project.The Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna wants to preserve the workhouse’s stories and retell them to visitors. South-East Galway Irish Rural Development manager, Ursula Marmion is hoping to provide visitors to the centre with a history of the Irish workhouse on July 1 next.Known as paupers or inmates, they were the residents of the workhouse; a part of Irish history that has left memories of dire poverty.“They used to call them blackberry men because they ate the blackberries off the bushes. They were also known as knights of the road or itinerant workers,” explains Ms Marmion.The concept of developing a workhouse centre explaining the history of Irish workhouses seemed outlandish initially.“At the beginning I think they [local community] thought we were all a bit mad,” says Ms Marmion.However, the community has rallied around …

CLARE Farm Heritage Tours has unveiled its summer programme, which includes tours for all ages alongside daily farm tours to eight unique farms in the Burren region. The programme begins on June 25 with a historical talk and walk at Cassidy’s Pub and Restaurant, Carron, in the heart of the Burren, followed by farm walks near Lahinch in July, a gardening in the Burren experience in August and finishing in September with stories of Maura Rua who lived at Lemenagh Castle.The farm tours are both educational and fun, allowing visitors to hear about the landscape of the Burren direct from the people who live and work in the area. The tours are led by individual landowners, who share their wealth of knowledge about local history and archaeology, landscape heritage, geology, and farming practices (both old and new), as well as innumerable anecdotes and tales about the Burren and its people. “With eight farms in our co-op, we have plenty variety …

A MONUMENT etched with the faces of two members of the IRA’s East Clare Brigade who were killed in Meelick 90 years ago will be unveiled at a special ceremony on Sunday, June 26.Michael Gleeson and Christopher McCarthy were buried in the Republican plot in Meelick churchyard near Patrick White, who was shot by a British sentry at Spike Island Prison, Cork, in June 1921.The special commemorative events will start with mass in Meelick Church at 12 noon, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony near the graves of the men.Once this is completed, parishioners will be invited to drive about one a half miles away to Woodcock Hill where a relative of the deceased men will participate in the joint unveiling ceremony for the new monument. Details of the relatives who will unveil the monument haven’t been finalised yet.Meelick Ambush Commemoration Committee member, Johnny White, insists the commemoration will be a non-political parish event.The committee is also planning to organise a …

AN Eye for the Music is the title of the Breandán Breathnach memorial lecture by Tony Kearns at the 39th annual Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, which opens on Saturday, July 2.Tony has been photographing events and people at the Willie Clancy festival for two decades and he is in a unique position to offer some interesting perspectives on the social and personal interactions between musicians and photographers during the 20th century, from the more formalised encounters of the early decades to the casual presentations of later years.While he will be using examples from his own extensive stock of material, including some already published in his book Music and Light/Ceol & Solas 2008, Tony will also be illustrating his talk with examples of rare photos of influential Clare musicians from the ’20s and ’30s, as well as material from the Liam McNulty collection.Liam McNulty took most of the photos at the Willie Clancy Week in the 1970s when, with Breandán Breathnach, …